Recently, President Hu Jintao in China declared that China needed to strengthen its cultural production to defend against “the West’s assault on the country’s culture and ideology”. This pretty much drew a sharp line between the cultures of the West and China and effectively said the two sides were engaged in an escalating war of culture. It was published not so long ago in Seeking Truth, a Communist party magazine. To some, Hu’s words seem like flashbacks of what Chairman Mao used to say when he was in power. However what is on everybody’s mind is how China is planning to retaliate to “the West’s assault on the country’s culture and ideology”.

“The restriction on cultural activities makes it impossible for China to influence literature and cinema on a global basis or for us to raise our heads up proud,” One blogger recently wrote. It is not clear how China plans to retaliate, but we can expect the Chinese government to create more censorships of what can or cannot be discussed online and possibly create some new Chinese TV stations.

Recorded activity includes a push to increase cultural influence abroad. The state has recently installed institutes to teach about Confucius around the world to aid foreigners in learning Chinese. The state is also investing money on operations of large Chinese news organizations including Xinhua, the state news agency, and China Central Television, in cities around the world for whoever that decides they want to start watching Chinese TV. These organizations say they hope they can, eventually, be as common and widely viewed as Western news organizations.

“We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration,” Mr. Hu said. To me, Hu’s words are throwback to old Maoist slogans.

The “international hostile forces” that Chinese President Hu Jintao speaks of are allegedly supposed to be forms of western music or movies that have become popular in China. These include artists such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber and movies such as “Avatar”, which came out not so long ago, and “Transformers 3”. The Chinese President is apparently concerned because these artists and movies have become as popular, in china, as Chinese originated artists and movies.

President Hu Jintao has proclaimed that China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the West’s assault on the country’s culture, according to an essay in a Communist Party magazine published this week. The publication of Mr. Hu’s words signaled that a new policy initiative announced in October would continue well into 2012.